Integrated circuit (IC) testing can focus on specification based electrical testing which is labor intensive to prepare, requires costly automated test equipment (ATE), and takes a considerable amount of time, e.g., weeks or months, to execute. Full electrical specification testing at temperature can be used for counterfeit part detection. Such testing is expensive in both time and cost and may not be the most effective screening method to detect die substitution in which the counterfeit meets the manufacturer's specifications.
Data from a “Golden Device” can be used as a part of an effort to find outliers in a histogram. This approach works fairly well if a “Golden Device” from the same lot and foundry is available and enough parts are tested to enable good statistical histograms. These conditions are often not met when screening “older” out of production devices.
Systems can be based solely on acquisition of input/output (I/O) pin current-to-voltage (IV) curves that are compared to a “Golden Device” database. A common problem with these simple methods of acquisition and comparison is that they are generally not good at accounting for normal manufacturing process variations which can vary with manufacturer processes and foundries. They also tend to focus on a single stress indicator, such as I/O shift due to electrostatic discharge (ESD). Thus, such approaches do not represent comprehensive evaluation methods. An improvement is required in order to address supply chain participant needs and offer various advantages necessary to advance the state of the art.
The present invention embodiment relates to counterfeit microelectronics detection that includes approaches based on capacitive and inductive signatures. Existing approaches to counterfeit screening solutions do not offer such a capability and do not consider how to screen parts that pass electrical test, but are not from a legitimate manufacturer. Existing solutions focus on physical characteristics such as material compositions, which are not effective when evaluating an enclosed die. Full electrical test is also ineffective if a counterfeit component meets the original manufacturer's specifications or results are needed in a timely manner.
One exemplary embodiment of the invention can include counterfeit, defective, or suspect microelectronics detection by utilizing power pin based characterization of capacitive and inductive signatures across a specific frequency range using a precision impedance analyzer. Advantages associated with an embodiment of the invention include a major shift in testing paradigms by use of power pin capacitive and inductive signatures utilizing impedance measurement techniques for counterfeit part screening. One exemplary embodiment of the invention includes a method that offers easier implementation than current means, is rapidly executable, and very effective in distinguishing particular classes of counterfeits including those in which the silicon die is not from an authorized, attributed, or correct manufacturer/supplier, is being passed off as new, misrepresented as one thing when it is another ((e.g., an item is used, remarked, salvaged, wrong die, aged, damaged, unauthorized modifications, etc when the item is characterized as new, from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or foundry directly, etc), in a particular condition when it is not so, or is noticeably different electrically than the desired application requires.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.